I’ve been feeling an incredible surge of love for Venus lately. As I mentioned last week, her semifinal showing in Rome saw her rise to No 3 in the world, which means no meetings with Serena or Safina until the semifinals at least for Roland Garros. There’s even a slim chance she could over take Serena this week, depending on how much she could outperform Serena by.
It didn’t surprise me however that Venus had no knowledge that she was going to be No 3. The girl’s thinking about winning matches, winning titles, practicing more, but rankings? Pffft. Been there, done that.
Love that attitude. Roland Garros, time to take that baby home, Veelieve it!
Q. Once you’ve gone past three hours in a match, what are you thinking at that point?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, I can’t remember the last time I played a three hour match. It’s actually kind of cool.
Q. So you were just enjoying it?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, getting to that three hour mark and still playing good tennis is fantastic. So like I said, it was cool.
Q. In the first set, as well as playing very good tennis, you seemed to be out thinking her a little bit. That obviously didn’t happen so much during the rest of the game. Why do you think that was?
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I hit a lot of balls long. I just think I needed to add some more spin. Even the last shot, long, long, long. Sometimes wide. Just more spin.
So I’m going to have to work on, you know, when I’m going for my shots to hit it inside the court. It’s pretty key. (Laughter.)
Q. Just to see the positive side of the week, you’re back in No. 3 position, which, I mean you wasn’t there anymore since six years almost. Does it mean anything to you? Even if you were No. 1, maybe you don’t care.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, I’d like to see how the ranking system works. I mean, in the past I couldn’t play as many tournaments as the players ahead of me, or sometimes I had injuries so I couldn’t achieve a higher ranking.
Yeah, it’s great to be No. 3.Q. Behind your sister, so you’re not that far.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, I just want to win. I mean, the ranking will come when it comes. I like to keep my titles and have my trophies at home. When I pass by and see the trophy, I’m like, Yeah. Well done, V. So, you know, I want the trophy. That’s what I take with me into retirement.
But, I don’t know. I mean, didn’t know I was going No. 3 or anything at all. So this is the first I heard of it. Let me think about it.
Q. Anyway, it means that you’re quite close to the top again. You’re not that far.
VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, close to the top. And I think my game really improved from the first match.
Just like I said, my goal is to have the opportunity to hit a lot of balls and to really just hit a lot of balls on this surface. I got to do that.
Yeah, I’m just gonna get better. That’s what I feel like.
Q. The trophy that you haven’t won yet is Roland Garros. After how you performed here this week, how do you rate your chances there?
VENUS WILLIAMS: We are so not there yet. I’ll leave that to the rating committee and everybody else. I’ll leave that alone.
Source: ubitennis
Image Credit: PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images
Filed under: WTA | Tagged: Venus Williams
